WarningYour internet explorer is in compatibility mode and may not be displaying the website correctly.
You can fix this by pressing 'F12' on your keyboard, Selecting 'Document Mode' and choosing 'standards' (or the latest version
listed if standards is not an option).

GET NEW POSTS BY EMAIL

MEMS Blog Posts

MEMS Blog Posts

Many modern devices leverage piezoelectricity. When analyzing the design of such devices, you want to be confident in the reliability of the obtained results. By utilizing the COMSOL Multiphysics® simulation software, you can achieve accurate results quickly. To prove it to you, we have created a benchmark model of a piezoelectric transducer.

Categories

In any form of treatment, it is always desirable to minimize the level of discomfort that the treatment process causes patients, while ensuring overall safety and effectiveness. For diabetes patients, insulin injections remain an important form of treatment, but the process itself can be painful. With the help of multiphysics simulation, a team of researchers from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology sought to develop a MEMS-based micropump that could administer insulin injections in a safe and painless way.

Categories

If you’ve ever worked with the Terminal boundary condition in COMSOL Multiphysics, you know that this electrical boundary condition can apply a current or voltage, among other options. But did you know that you can also dynamically switch between excitation types during a transient simulation? This is useful if you are trying to model a current- or voltage-limited power supply, for example. Today, we will look at how to implement such a switching behavior.

Categories

Previously on the blog, we detailed the standards employed to describe piezoelectric materials. There are two piezoelectric material standards supported in COMSOL Multiphysics: the IRE 1949 standard and the IEEE 1978 standard. Today, we will demonstrate how to set up the orientation of a crystal, specifically an AT cut quartz plate, within both standards.

Categories

Over the years, energy harvesting has become a popular approach to power small wireless devices. For energy harvesters to yield optimal results, it is important that their design configurations maximize the level of power transfer. Here, we will explore the role of simulation in advancing the design of a piezoelectric energy harvester.

Categories

Microfluidic systems often rely on valveless pumps, as they are both gentle on the biological material and low in the risk of clogging. However, by design, this type of pump is not suitable for viscous fluids and systems with small length scales or low flow rates. To overcome this limitation, you can introduce a micropump mechanism that converts oscillatory fluid motion into a unidirectional net flow.

Categories

Maximizing the efficiency of the learning process, while keeping students engaged — this is the common goal that professors hope to achieve in any course. In the realm of physics- and engineering-based courses, simulation apps are helping to strike such a balance by introducing students to complex concepts in a simplified format. Here, we’ll take a look at some of the innovative ways that university professors are utilizing apps within the classroom.

Categories

Piezoelectricity finds use in a variety of engineering applications. They include transducers, inkjet printheads, adaptive optics, switching devices, cellphone components, and guitar pickups, to name a few. Today’s blog post will benefit both beginners and experts in piezoelectricity, as we highlight some of the fundamental elements of piezoelectric theory and basic simulations, along with a novel design for improving the range of motion for piezoelectric actuators.

Categories

MEMS resonators are microelectromechanical systems primarily used as sensor elements, filters, and frequency elements. Two common actuation methods for MEMS resonators are piezoelectric actuation and electrostatic actuation. In this blog post, we will discuss the modeling of electrostatically actuated MEMS resonators. When modeling such resonators, you will often come across terms such as equilibrium point, pull-in, pull-in voltage, and time harmonic response of a biased resonator. We will explain these phenomena using a simple representation of an actuator.

Categories

Many aquatic vehicles use power-hungry active sensing methods to detect and identify objects within an oceanic environment. In order to find an energy-efficient alternative, a team of researchers from the PSG College of Technology in India used numerical simulation to investigate a pressure sensor design inspired by a blind cave fish. In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at this passive MEMS-based pressure sensor.

Categories

Piezoelectric valves are opened and closed by stacked piezoelectric actuators that are positioned above a seal. By applying a voltage to the stacked piezoelectric actuator, it can be made to expand or contract and the resulting deformation is used to open and close the valve. In this blog post, we feature a tutorial model of a stacked piezoelectric actuator in a pneumatic valve, new with COMSOL Multiphysics version 5.1.

Categories

In any form of treatment, it is always desirable to minimize the level of discomfort that the treatment process causes patients, while ensuring overall safety and effectiveness. For diabetes patients, insulin injections remain an important form of treatment, but the process itself can be painful. With the help of multiphysics simulation, a team of researchers from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology sought to develop a MEMS-based micropump that could administer insulin injections in a safe and painless way.

Categories

Maximizing the efficiency of the learning process, while keeping students engaged — this is the common goal that professors hope to achieve in any course. In the realm of physics- and engineering-based courses, simulation apps are helping to strike such a balance by introducing students to complex concepts in a simplified format. Here, we’ll take a look at some of the innovative ways that university professors are utilizing apps within the classroom.

Categories

If you’ve ever worked with the Terminal boundary condition in COMSOL Multiphysics, you know that this electrical boundary condition can apply a current or voltage, among other options. But did you know that you can also dynamically switch between excitation types during a transient simulation? This is useful if you are trying to model a current- or voltage-limited power supply, for example. Today, we will look at how to implement such a switching behavior.

Categories

Piezoelectricity finds use in a variety of engineering applications. They include transducers, inkjet printheads, adaptive optics, switching devices, cellphone components, and guitar pickups, to name a few. Today’s blog post will benefit both beginners and experts in piezoelectricity, as we highlight some of the fundamental elements of piezoelectric theory and basic simulations, along with a novel design for improving the range of motion for piezoelectric actuators.

Categories

Previously on the blog, we detailed the standards employed to describe piezoelectric materials. There are two piezoelectric material standards supported in COMSOL Multiphysics: the IRE 1949 standard and the IEEE 1978 standard. Today, we will demonstrate how to set up the orientation of a crystal, specifically an AT cut quartz plate, within both standards.

Categories

MEMS resonators are microelectromechanical systems primarily used as sensor elements, filters, and frequency elements. Two common actuation methods for MEMS resonators are piezoelectric actuation and electrostatic actuation. In this blog post, we will discuss the modeling of electrostatically actuated MEMS resonators. When modeling such resonators, you will often come across terms such as equilibrium point, pull-in, pull-in voltage, and time harmonic response of a biased resonator. We will explain these phenomena using a simple representation of an actuator.

Categories

Over the years, energy harvesting has become a popular approach to power small wireless devices. For energy harvesters to yield optimal results, it is important that their design configurations maximize the level of power transfer. Here, we will explore the role of simulation in advancing the design of a piezoelectric energy harvester.

Categories

Many aquatic vehicles use power-hungry active sensing methods to detect and identify objects within an oceanic environment. In order to find an energy-efficient alternative, a team of researchers from the PSG College of Technology in India used numerical simulation to investigate a pressure sensor design inspired by a blind cave fish. In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at this passive MEMS-based pressure sensor.

Categories

Microfluidic systems often rely on valveless pumps, as they are both gentle on the biological material and low in the risk of clogging. However, by design, this type of pump is not suitable for viscous fluids and systems with small length scales or low flow rates. To overcome this limitation, you can introduce a micropump mechanism that converts oscillatory fluid motion into a unidirectional net flow.

Categories

Piezoelectric valves are opened and closed by stacked piezoelectric actuators that are positioned above a seal. By applying a voltage to the stacked piezoelectric actuator, it can be made to expand or contract and the resulting deformation is used to open and close the valve. In this blog post, we feature a tutorial model of a stacked piezoelectric actuator in a pneumatic valve, new with COMSOL Multiphysics version 5.1.